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Your options for taking your money

You can access your pension savings at your selected retirement age, or any time after age 55, whether or not you’ve stopped working. You may be able to access them earlier than this if your original scheme had a protected retirement age, or if you’re in ill health. If you get close to your chosen retirement age and decide you don’t want to take your money yet, you can also delay taking money from your pension pot.

Getting help to decide

It’s important you shop around to find the best option for your personal circumstances and income goals. It’s a big decision so it’s worth comparing what each provider can offer as you don’t have to stay with Legal & General and might get better options elsewhere.

Pension Wise is a government service from MoneyHelper that offers free, impartial guidance about your defined contribution pension options. An appointment with Pension Wise is free and will help you understand what your overall financial situation will be when you retire. You can book an appointment once you are aged 50 or over.

Pension-Wise_Money-Helper-logo

Personalised advice

You can also choose to receive personalised advice from a financial adviser. You can find one in your local area at unbiased.co.uk.

Legal & General provides a retirement advice service. We can help you decide what type of advice or guidance might suit you best and let you know more about fees and charges. To be eligible, you must live in the UK and have a total pension pot of £20,000 or more.

For further information, please visit legalandgeneral.com/lgfa or call Legal & General Financial Advice on 0800 072 0003. We may record and monitor calls.

Advisers usually charge for their services. You may be able to pay for financial advice directly from your pension pot. Ask your financial adviser for details.

We can offer you a way of paying your adviser directly from your pension pot, this is called a facilitated adviser charge. The Facilitated adviser charge guide explains how this works.

Personalised telephone retirement advice provided by LGFA, to help you plan your retirement.


Your options under your current plan

Options available to you within your current plan

Things to consider

Buy a guaranteed income (an annuity)

You can use some, or all of your pension pot to buy a guaranteed income, for life or a fixed number of years.

Read our example case study.

  • You can usually take up to 25% of your pension pot as tax-free cash. Each annuity payment may be taxed as income.
  • Smokers and those in poor health usually get better rates because of their shorter life expectancy.

Take a flexible income -Also known as Flexi-access drawdown

You can usually take up to 25% of your pension pot as a cash lump sum and leave the rest invested to provide a regular income, and occasional lump sums if required.

Read our example case study.

  • You can usually take up to 25% of your pension pot as tax-free cash but the rest may be taxed as income.
  • You can vary, stop or suspend the amount you’re taking at any time.
  • Your money has the chance to grow but it could go down in value too. If you take out too much or your investment funds don’t perform as well as you’d expected, you could run out of money before you die.

Investment pathways

Take it all in one go

You can take your pension pot in cash as a single lump sum. 

If you are over 55, your pot is under £10,000 and you have requested your retirement pack, you can withdraw a cash lump sum online via Manage Your Account or by calling us on 0345 0750402

Read our example case study.

  • 25% of it will usually be tax-free but the rest may be taxed as income.
  • You don't need to stop working to take this option, but you would need to think about where your income will come from when you do stop working.

Take cash as partial lump sums

You can leave your money invested and withdraw it as cash lump sums as and when you wish. The money left invested has the chance to grow but it could go down in value too.

Read our example case study.

 

  • Usually the first 25% of each amount you take will usually be tax-free but the rest may be taxed as income.
  • If you choose this option, you may wish to spread your withdrawals over a number of tax years to minimise the amount of tax you pay.
  • You may be able to keep paying in after you take money out but you could pay tax on contributions over £10,000 a year (known as the ‘money purchase annual allowance’ (MPAA)

Leave it

You can leave your pension pot where it is. We’ll continue to manage your money in the same way we have been, unless instructed otherwise

  • Your money has the chance to grow but it could go down in value too.
  • We’ll automatically extend your retirement age by five years. You can still access your pot in this period
  • You should review your retirement plans regularly to make sure you’re investing your pot in the most suitable way

You can choose more than one option and provider

You don’t just have to choose one option or provider. You can mix your options for each pension pot you have. You can transfer all or some of your pension pot to another provider and have your benefits paid by them. However, you may lose your entitlement to any benefits that were protected, such as the ability to combine your defined benefit and defined contributions pots, the ability to access your pot before 55 or a tax-free cash sum greater than 25% of your pot. Please check this before transferring.

The law, tax rates and any allowances may change in the future. These changes could affect the value of your savings, how much you can pay in, or the age at which you’re able to access your money.

How tax works for you will depend on your individual circumstances.


Ready to make a choice

Once you’re ready to take your money and you’ve decided which option (or options) you want to take, you can get in touch for all the information you need and any relevant forms.

We’re here to help if you have any final questions or you need any more information before you make your decision, just let us know.

We’ll write to you every five years from age 50 with a summary of your plan including its current value plus a series of risk warnings and things to think about before taking your money out.

The communications will continue until age 95 or until your entire pot is crystallised (ie you’ve started taking your benefits) whichever comes first.

Taking money from my pension

A guide to taking cash sums and a flexible income from your Legal & General pension pot.

Pension Wise

A government service from MoneyHelper that offers free, impartial guidance about your defined contribution pension options.

Retirement Advice

Personalised telephone retirement advice provided by LGFA, to help you plan your retirement.